*Note on gender-inclusive language

Gender-inclusive language is currently a subject of heated debate. It is not yet foreseeable how the language will change and what will prevail. The Council for German Orthography published a statement in March 2021: “The gender star will not be officially recognized for the time being.” For this reason, and also in the interest of readability, we have refrained from using a gender star in our texts or from implementing all gender-appropriate spellings everywhere. We respect all people regardless of gender, skin color, and sexual orientation. In some places, we use exclusively the feminine and in others the masculine form. We hope that all readers will nevertheless feel included. Any form of exclusion is fundamentally alien to us.